The Road To Insanity
by sesshomaruluver1
Summary: A Batman The Dark Knight Fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City. Full summary on first chapter Jokeroc Jokerxoc
1. Chapter 1

**The Road To Insanity**

**Summary:** A Batman The Dark Knight Fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City and soon in the leather purple gloves of The Joker. Her journey down the road to insanity will be dark and terrifying as she is led by the owner of a twisted smile.

**Warnings:** this story will contain swearing, some possible graphic killing/murder scenes and maybe a future sex scene. This story is rated M for a reason if you are uncomfortable reading such things you can ether skip through them or not read this, so please do not send me messages if you dislike some thing you have read. It was your choice to read it.

A/N: Ok now that I have the warning out of the way, as you may have guessed this story is another one of those OC finds herself in the dark knight universe. However I will be having her get there in a way that I have yet seen in any of the other stories I have read, so please give this story a try. Also I do not own batman or any of the music I mention/use in this story; if I did I wouldn't be writing this.

The calming melody that was Emilie Autumn's Bach: Largo for Violin played from my phone as I woke slowly from a deep slumber. Unlike most, who had loud songs or noises as their alarm to wake them with a jolt, I preferred to use instrumental music as it allowed me to wake up calmly and without rush. Sitting up, I reached for my phone and switched the alarm off before getting up and walking downstairs to the bathroom.

After doing my morning routine and feeling fully awake, I returned to my room and turned on my IPod and put another Emilie Autumn song, this one a bit less calm. As Liar played through my speakers, I grabbed some clothes out of my wardrobe and threw them on. Just as I was going to return downstairs to make breakfast, my phone started to play my text alert.

The text read, "Hey we still going out today?"

The message was from my work friend. After grabbing my IPod and speakers, I text her back an affirmative as I made my way downstairs. Passing a mirror in my downstairs hallway, I took a moment to examine myself. I saw that my dyed purple hair still needed a good brushing and that I had forgotten to put in my coloured contact in my left dark emerald eye.

I generally didn't like to wear the contacts, but some people found my eyes a little uncomfortable to look at. While my left eye was an emerald green, my right was a light icy blue. I had a contact for each eye depending on whether I wanted to be viewed as having green eyes or blue.

Deciding to forgo the contact today, I continued my self inspection. I was a generally pale person, not really seeing why people were almost obsessed with tans. Looking at what I threw on this morning, I saw I had put on my dark blue tank top which had the words, "I never go into a battle of wits against an unarmed man," written in black lettering. On my lower half, I had pulled on my black boot cut jeans and a pair of striped red and black socks.

Shaking my head, I went to my kitchen and made a simple breakfast of cereal with a cup of tea as I never could stand coffee. After I was done and had rinsed my bowl and cup, I switched my IPod off as it was almost half way through God Help Me, another Emilie Autumn song, before running upstairs to brush my hair.

Once I was completely sorted and everything I would need – phone, keys, purse etc. – I pulled on my ankle boots and walked from my house to the shopping mall where I was meeting my friend. Almost as soon as I stepped through the doors of the mall, I was practically tackled in a hug by my friend.

"Hi, Kris," I said once I got my breathing regulated from the surprise attack.

"Hey, how has your morning been so far Lilith?" Kris asked after she had released me.

"Meh. Like every other morning when we don't have work," I answered as we started to walk towards the first shop of our day out, which happened to be a book shop. We spent a good amount of the morning in that one shop for we both enjoyed reading. It was normal when we both left with at least two bags each just filled with books.

Our next stop was Kris's decision and she had to drag me into the place. It was shop that sold mostly skirts, dresses, a few jeans and shorts here and there, as well as tops. I wasn't to fond of skirts, dresses or shorts as I didn't really like the way my legs looked. I also didn't like the fact that quite a few items were bright pink or of a pastel colour. But still, I help Kris chose clothing items and gave her my opinion on them whenever she would come out from a changing room.

Once Kris had bought what she wanted from the store, we decided it was time for lunch and walked down to the food court. They had an area where they sold Tai food and I made a beeline for it once we had entered the area. After getting my food, I began to look around for Kris. In the end, I found her sitting at a table already eating.

"Are we still going back to yours to watch The Dark Knight?" Kris asked before munching on a chip. I got an almost giddy look on my face when I thought about watching my favourite film. I am an absolute fanatic when it came to The Dark Knight or anything Batman really. However, out of the batman universe, the Joker was my favourite character. Many people wondered why a villain was my favourite, even Kris.

"Yeah, and thanks for reminding me. I want to get another Joker poster for my room while we are here," I told her before taking a bite of my Tai style caramel chicken.

Kris just shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips, and finished off her chips before looking me in the eyes. "I still don't see why you like him so much." She paused to take another bite of her meal before continuing. "I mean, he is the villain. Not to mention he's a clown. . . and I thought they scared you," She said as she picked up her burger for another bite.

"He's not a clown, he's a Joker," I explained to her while she mimed every word perfectly. I have told her this countless times that he was no clown, but I would find that she would still ask me the question.

After we had finished eating, we went to a few more clothing shops before going to F.Y.E., as they sold DVD's and posters. Walking over to the corner that held the posters, I saw one on display and I knew instantly that that was the one I wanted. It had the Joker standing in the middle of a road his back was facing towards me while his head was down a little, so all you could see was his greenish blond hair. His left arm was obviously held across his front as his left hand could be seen on the right holding a joker card. His right arm was held straight down at his side with a knife in his hand.

Checking the posters number, I searched till I found the group of tightly rolled up posters that were covered in plastic and had the same number placed on them. After taking the one I wanted, I began to make my way to the counter so I could pay. As I was checking out, I could see Kris walk outside to wait for me.

"Get what you wanted?" she asked as I exited the store. I nodded happily as we walked back to the entrance/exit of the mall. The whole time we walked back to the car, I was giggling and smiling, overly excited to get such a wonderful poster.

Once we arrived home, I asked Kris, "Why don't you get comfy in the living room while I put my stuff away," while making my way to the stairs.

Nodding, Kris walked into the living room and I could make out her flopping down onto the sofa. Smiling, I walked up the stairs and into my room, placing the bags that held my books by my small bookcase and the ones holding clothes into the wardrobe. I decided to wait to put up the Joker poster until later when Kris had gone home.

When I had returned to the living room, Kris had apparently already set up the DVD player as well as put in The Dark Knight DVD. Joining her on the sofa, I pressed the "Play" button on my DVD remote and got settled in a corner of the couch.

Throughout the movie, I would find myself quoting the Joker and performing similar motions. Kris, unsure of what to say to this, would only shake her head in response.

Once the film had ended, much to my displeasure, Kris said, "Stop pouting." I couldn't really help it. I always ended up pouting because the Joker doesn't win and is ship off to Arkham.

"But Joker should have won," I argued, glancing at her from the corner of my eye.

Kris just signed in response before getting up, saying that she had to get up early as she had early shift tomorrow. Nodding, I got up to unlock the door and say goodbye. Once she had left, I relocked the door and, after turning off both the DVD player and the TV, I went to my room to put up my new poster.

Grabbing a blue tack from my bedside table, I took the poster to the other end of my bed so it would sit opposite my first one, which was above my head. Pulling the plastic from the rolled up poster, I quickly unrolled it and tacked it up to the wall. I took a step back, far enough that my leg would make contact with the bed, to admire my work. I was merely checking to see if it was placed straight, but that wasn't the case.

"That's odd," I muttered to myself taking a closer look at was actually on the poster. It was pretty much the same as the one I had seen in the shop earlier, but there was a small difference. Instead of only seeing the back of his head, I could now see his right eye as he looked over his shoulder slightly. Shrugging a little, I began to think that perhaps I had been lucky to find a rare poster.

I felt a slight, cool breeze from behind brushing up against my back. Thinking I left the window up, I turned around to find that it was never opened. Feeling more than a little paranoid, I backed up, glancing around my bedroom with wide eyes. I continued to step back until I fell back where my wall and poster would have once stood.

It was all a blur until I fell lifelessly to a concrete walkway. I tried to think back a few minutes, but nothing seemed to add up. I looked around the lit up city, taking in all of my surroundings. I looked above me to find a clear, dark sky filled with stars. They hid behind the tall skyscrapers, twinkling lightly in the distance.

"What…the….hell?" I grumbled to myself as I sat up, still feeling the affects of the fall. I paused slightly to listen to the footsteps before making an attempt at getting back up to my feet.

A man, who I recognized instantly, stepped over to me, asking, "Are you alright, Miss?" When I didn't respond, he asked again and made sure to add, "I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Jim Gordon and I'm the Commissioner for Gotham PD."

A/N: well I hoped you enjoyed this first chapter please review and tell me what you think. Also if you are re-reading this chapter again this is the BETA version and I would like to thank my new BETA SecretsAreNoFun.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Road To Insanity**

**Summary:** A Batman The Dark Knight Fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City and soon in the leather purple gloves of The Joker. Her journey down the road to insanity will be dark and terrifying as she is led by the owner of a twisted smile.

**Warnings:** this story will contain swearing, some possible graphic killing/murder scenes and maybe a future sex scene. This story is rated M for a reason if you are uncomfortable reading such things you can ether skip through them or not read this, so please do not send me messages if you dislike some thing you have read. It was your choice to read it.

A/N: First thing first, I want to say thank you to the two people that reviewed the first chapter. The first was shadowxofxdarkness, if you are in the mood to read something that will make you giggle I would recommend her soul mated best friend stories. The second person to review was Linnie kinda spinnie, I hope you enjoy this next chapter as well Linnie.

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><p><strong><span>Recap<span>**

I felt a slight, cool breeze from behind brushing up against my back. Thinking I left the window up, I turned around to find that it was never opened. Feeling more than a little paranoid, I backed up, glancing around my bedroom. I continued to step back until I fell back where my wall and poster would have once stood.

It was all a blur until I fell lifelessly to a concrete walkway. I tried to think back a few minutes, but nothing seemed to add up. I looked around the lit up city, taking in all of my surroundings. I looked above me to find a clear, dark sky filled with stars. They hid behind the tall skyscrapers, twinkling lightly in the distance.

"What…the….hell?" I grumbled to myself as I sat up, still feeling the affects of the fall. I paused slightly to listen to the footsteps before making one last attempt at getting to my feet. This time, I found myself successful.

A man, who I recognized instantly, stepped over to me, asking, "Are you OK, miss?" When I didn't respond, he asked again and made sure to add, "I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Jim Gordon and I'm the Commissioner for Gotham PD."

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><p>Unable to find my voice, I was only able to get out a nearly inaudible, "Uh…" Inside my mind, I repeated to myself that he was merely a fictional character and that the possibilities of him resembling an actual person, in this case Gary Oldman, were far from great.<p>

"Miss, can you tell me your name, please?" he asked in a soft tone, obviously trying to not frighten me.

My body tensed slightly as I stuttered out, "L-Lilith Nights." I was still finding it difficult to believe this was happening.

Stepping towards me, Gordon began to ask if I was familiar with the city. I didn't answer at first, but when I found my voice, I told him, "N-no, I'm not. I think I may be lost." My body shivering a little from the cold due to the lack of coverage. I was only wearing a tank top, jeans, and ankle boots after all.

"Where were you headed?" he asked, causing my mind to go blank. I only knew about places that had been mentioned in the films, so I had to come up with something believable. As I thought for an answer, I could see Gordon begin to look worried.

"A hotel or motel, just somewhere to stay for awhile until I get a job and an apartment," I said before realising I had no money. I began to wonder if the kind hearted commissioner would offer to pay, so I added, "But, I, uh. . . lost my bag so I have no money to pay for one."

Gordon shook his head and sighed lightly before telling me, "I hate to say this but, it was probably stolen when you weren't looking. I'll take you down to the station so we can file it in stolen property and maybe find you somewhere to stay."

He began to make his way out from the alley while I quickly followed, debating where I should sit in the vehicle. After some time, I decided I didn't want people that we passed to think I had been arrested so I hoped in the front. Once both of us were buckled in safely, Gordon started the car and began the drive to the Gotham police department.

"What kind of job were you going to look for?" Gordon asked trying to make conversation. I was thankful as that meant the ride wouldn't be spent in an awkward silence.

"Well, my last job was working in a department store, but I have always been interested in working with animals or in entertainment," I said, glancing at Gordon from the corner of my eye.

Interested, Gordon asked what kind of animals I would like to work with. It surprised me for most people would assume that I wanted to work in a zoo or pet shop when I explained how I wanted to work with animals.

"Reptiles, they seem to like me better. Especially snakes. I don't really know why," I answered smiling slightly, think how I had always been drawn to reptiles.

Most of the ride now consisted of Gordon telling me about the wide variety of animal related jobs they had to offer in Gotham and how I might be interested. However, he never mentioned where I could stay until I got said job.

Our conversation was brought to a halt as we came to Gotham police department. Stepping out of Gordon's car, I could see, even from the outside of the building, that the police were busy. When we made our way inside, I had to wonder who had escaped from Arkham this time to cause the police to almost run about like headless chickens.

"What's going on?" I asked as Gordon took me to his office.

He turned towards me and began to explain that, "A man known as the Joker escaped from our mental institution, Arkham Asylum," before opening the door. Showing what a true gentleman he really was, Gordon moved aside to let me enter the office first.

Nodding my thanks, I walked past Gordon and took a seat in front of his desk. Once Gordon had sat down, we filed a stolen property report. I didn't really expect to have my bag to be found, considering it was at my house.

Once that had been done, he started talking about places I could stay, which were few and far between. It soon became apparent that I wouldn't be able to stay anywhere unless someone let me stay in their home out of the goodness of their heart, which was almost a complete joke. No one in Gotham would let me stay with them out of the goodness of their heart. It was ridiculous that they would be to worried about whether or not I was a danger to them all the while over looking the fact that I could be in danger myself.

Just as I was about to tell Gordon not to worry about it, his phone began to go off. He stood up from his desk and made his way towards the office door, listening into the cell. My best guess was that it was his wife just from the way he kept smiling into the phone. I tried my best not to eavesdrop, but I would catch things here or there.

After a more person conversation, Gordon began to explain to his wife that I didn't have a place to stay and that I was new to the city. The commissioner would make a occasional, "Uh-huh," and, "OK," as he paced the room.

It wasn't long until Gordon turned to me and handed me the phone, telling me I did not have to worry about find a place to stay any longer. It was indeed his wife on the phone, and, as I soon realized, she was incredibly stubborn. I had tried to explain to her multiple times how I didn't want to impose but she would repeatedly tell me, in reply, that she wouldn't take no for an answer. I quickly found that I was defeated, leaving me no choice but to stay with Gordon and his family.

I was, once again, walking to Gordon's car. This time, the ride was silent, leaving the only noises to come from the surrounding streets. It was busy at night, I had noted. Most people were fighting through traffic to get home in time for dinner, or so was my best guest. Any one of these cars could be holding a certain recently escaped criminal.

The commissioner's home was larger than I had originally expected. I had envisioned his home to be like the one from the movie but this version was much larger, leaving me to guess that it was bought some time after be became commissioner.

As I walked into the house, I looked around, studying my surroundings. There was a table that sat near the door, absolutely covered in photos with Gordon's children. My personal favourite was the picture of Gordon having a chocolate cupcake pressed onto his nose.

Gordon's family filed into the front of the house one by one, preparing to start introductions. Barbara, Gordon's wife, introduced herself before motioning towards her children. The daughter was also Barbara, but she preferred to be called Babs. Their son was named after his father, James.

Holding back some chuckles, I said, "It's nice to meet you all. My name is Lilith Nights." I had to bite down on my lip to keep myself now. I was still trying to get over the unimaginative names.

Barbara, deciding it was her job to show me around the house, starting with the guest bedroom where I would be staying. It had a simple layout but was pretty roomy from what I could tell. A bed sat by the window with a small, white side table laying close by. On the opposite end of the room was a small closet and desk.

Continuing with the tour, we travelled to a fish themed bathroom, obviously decorated for the children. Mrs. Gordon explained how it would be a race in the morning to get to use the bathroom, so I would have to get up a bit early.

When we finished up with the tour, she allowed me to settle down in my room. I stripped myself of my boots, sock and finally my jeans before strolling over to the bed. I flopped down onto the white sheets, burying my face in a fluffy pillow. As I lay there, I began to hope that I would wake up in my own room; finding out this was all just some crazy dream.

I stretched out an arm to the small table light before shifting over to my back. I pulled the sheets over my head and curled up in a tight ball, trying to drift of into sleep. This proved difficult, however, for police sirens could be heard in the background but, eventually I was able to find sleep.

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><p>My body jerk forward, something I wasn't accustomed to, awakening me from my deep slumber. I blink a couple of times before rubbing the sleep from my eyes with a slightly numbed hand. After my vision cleared, I noticed I was still located in Gordon's guest bedroom. Feeling slightly disappointed, I fell back into the bed, sighing deeply.<p>

Outside the door, I could make out the light patter of tiny feet. It didn't click right away but when it did, I recalled Mrs. Gordon telling me about the one bathroom. I leaped out from the bed and made a mad dash towards the door; cursing to myself for sleeping in.

I made it a second to late as Jim's son closed the door in my face, a triumphant grin playing on his lips. Grumbling, I made my way downstairs to find Barbara, Babs and Jim already at the kitchen table, sleep still lingering in their eyes. After I sat down at the table, Barbara made it clear that because I was the guest, I would get the bathroom after James was finished.

Leaning my head against the table, I noticed that I was still only in my tank top and underwear, leaving me extremely exposed. It was at that moment I had never been so glad for people to be half asleep. Once James was downstairs, I got up from my seat and made my way quickly to the bathroom, hoping they were still to out of it to notice my lack of clothes.

I did my normal routine before returning to the guest room. I pulled my jeans back on, but not without some difficulties; my skin was still damp, causing the jeans to stick. Once I was fully clothed, I returned to the kitchen and insisted on helping with breakfast.

I grabbed some eggs and a stick of butter from the fridge and pulled out a small pan from underneath the counter. I placed the pan onto the stove, turned on the burner, and waited for it to warm up before adding a layer of butter into the pan. After that, I cracked open some eggs and began cooked them up scrambled. This was for Babs, mainly because I disliked egg yolks. Bacon was made last and, to my pleasure, it didn't burn.

When Babs noticed my yolk-less meal, she gave me a funny look; her brows curled up while her lip turned down.

"I have never really liked the taste of the yolk," I explained to her before getting up to make myself a cup of tea. This time, Jim gave me a weird look and I couldn't keep myself from laughing a little as I told him I don't like coffee. "It's to bitter."

Apart from breakfast, everything was pretty normal, not that I was expecting Jim to have to rush from the house on a call or anything. Then again, I thought to myself, I didn't expect the situation it to be this normal.

After everyone finished eating, Barbara said she would help me with my job hunt once she dropped the kids off at school. I would have protested but she gave the mothers look of "do not argue with me". Nodding my consent to her coming along, I decided that I should help do the dishes.

Looking up from a pile of dishes, Mrs. Gordon said, "You don't have to, you know."

"I know but, if I'm going to be staying here, then I am going to help out until I can pay for my own things and get settle down in my own place." I explained to her. Eventually, she conceded.

Once the dishes were cleaned up, Jim gave his wife a light kiss goodbye and left for work. Barbara and I took the kids to school, having to fight through the heavy morning traffic along the way. After that, she then took me over to a well known pet shop so I could apply for a job.

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><p>AN: That is the end of the second chapter, please review and tell me what you think constructive criticism is also welcomed. Also another big thank you to my BETA for her wonderful editing job.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Road To Insanity**

**Summary:** A Batman The Dark Knight Fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City and soon in the leather purple gloves of The Joker. Her journey down the road to insanity will be dark and terrifying as she is led by the owner of a twisted smile.

**Warnings:** this story will contain swearing, some possible graphic killing/murder scenes and maybe a future sex scene. This story is rated M for a reason if you are uncomfortable reading such things you can ether skip through them or not read this, so please do not send me messages if you dislike some thing you have read. It was your choice to read it.

A/N: Again I would like to thank those who reviewed also just to let you know I won't write the next chapter unless I do get some reviews, I'm not asking for loads just some to let me know that people are reading this. To Linnie kinda spinnie I'm sorry to say but the Joker wont be appearing until I have developed Lilith's life in Gotham, it shouldn't take to long.

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><p><strong><span>Recap<span>**

After everyone finished eating, Barbara said she would help me with my job hunt once she dropped the kids off at school. I would have protested but she gave the mothers look of, "Do not argue with me." Nodding my consent to her coming along, I decided that I should help do the dishes.

Looking up from a pile of dishes, Mrs. Gordon said, "You don't have to, you know."

"I know but, if I'm going to be staying here, then I am going to help out until I can pay for my own things and get settle down in my own place." I explained to her. Eventually, she conceded.

Once the dishes were cleaned up, Jim gave his wife a light kiss goodbye. Barbara and I took the kids to school, having to fight through the heavy morning traffic along the way. After that, she then took me over to a well known pet shop so I could apply for a job.

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><p>I sat in the chair, angled forward so that my body hovered over the café table. Barbara sat ahead, her eyes placed onto her hands that were folded loosely in her lap. We had already tried a number of places but not one was interested in hiring me. I sighed before sipping on my tea. My mind began to race as I tried to imagine what I could do.<p>

"Don't worry, Lilith." Barbara gave her a small smile. "We'll find you a job somewhere." She reached over to give my shoulder a small pat.

I still couldn't help but to feel hopeless. I knew that most people were turned off from hiring me due to my hair being dyed purple and my mismatched eyes. My eyes were a reason and it wasn't hard to notice when an employer looked back and forth from eye to eye.

Sighing again, I quickly finished off my tea and stood up with Barbara following. She still wanted me to go to one last place before I gave up. It was, as she explained, a reptile per shop that gave handling demonstrations as well as lessons to catch dangerous snakes. A 'just in case' lesson.

"I don't know Barbara. . ." My voice trailed off. I looked down to my feet, brows furrowed before I continued. "Everyone, so far, was put off by my eyes. What will make this any different?" I asked as we walked to the entrance of the shop.

"You might as well at least try," she told me as she held the door open. I sighed as I entered the shop, wishing this would be the last place we would be visiting.

There were a number of reptiles, I noticed almost immediately after spotting the anaconda. Walking further into the shop, I could hear someone's breathing hitch. I turned around one corner to find a teenage buy trying to get control of a rat snake. From what I could see, he was failing miserably. Another worker, who was much older, just watched, shaking his head. My best guess was that he owned to store.

The boy dropped the snake and, obviously being too afraid of being bitten, he jumped back into the older man. I quickly made my way over and took hold of the fleeing serpent, doing my best to be gentle.

It coiled around my arm while I asked, "I'm assuming this belongs to you?"

"Yes, thank you Miss…?" The man paused, waiting for me to give my name.

"Lilith Nights. It's pleasure to meet you," I said. I would have offered my hand but, with the snake still in hand, I decided against it.

"Miss Nights, my name is Darren Cast. Would you mind holding on to her for a little while longer while I talk to this kid?" Darren asked while he motioned to the snake I was currently holding

Nodding, I watched as Mr. Cast lead the boy away to speak with him in private. I studied the area while I subconsciously stroked the snake, my thoughts beginning to wonder as a feeling began to stir. Hope, perhaps? Breaking that thought, I heard heavy footsteps coming towards me. They belonged to the young boy and Mr. Cast. He seemed to be a tad annoyed.

Once the boy left, he turned to me and took the snake out of my grasp.

"I'm going to talk a wild stab in the dark and say he was here to get a job?" I asked, causing Mr. Cast to chuckle lightly.

"Yes, he was and he failed the interview. I need someone who can handle the reptiles confidently, like you." He paused slightly before continuing. "You wouldn't happen to be looking for a job, would you?"

"Actually, I am," I told him with a smile as he put the snake back in her enclosure. I glanced at the corner of the tank to see the snakes name was Cleo.

He turned back to me with a smile and said, "Well then, as I have already seen your handling skills, let's talk about the job."

After learning some small details to the job, I walking out of the shop and spotted Barbara leaning against her car with shopping bags in hand. Over joyed from the situation, I rushed over to her and excitedly proclaimed myself employed. After she had congratulated me, we made our way into the car but first, Barbara had to put the bags in the trunk. Once she finished that up, we began to drive back to the Gordon's home.

Back at the house Barbara, surprised me by giving me some new clothes she had apparently bought for me while I was in Cold Blooded, the reptile shop and my new work place. I told her that she shouldn't have bothered but she insisted.

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><p>This morning seemed to be following the same pattern as yesterday, but with one difference. Jim was unable to come home for the night and will most likely stay at the station. Once again, Barbara and I took the children to school before I could be dropped off at the pet shop.<p>

I waved goodbye before stepping into the store. Mr. Cast, who insisted that I should address him as Darren, greeted me with a smile before explaining what needed to be done. I was glad to have picked out a black t-shirt and jeans for the day for I was going to spend most of it cleaning out the enclosures and feeding some of the reptiles.

Once afternoon hit, Darren closed the shop so we could have lunch. During our meal, he explained to me that we would be holding a handling demonstration once the store re-opened.

"Will I be helping at all?" I asked taking a bite of the burger I had bought from a nearby McDonalds.

"You will be the one doing the demonstrations while I stay at the counter for those who come in to buy a pet rather than watch," he explained me once he was finished with his small lunch.

After I was done eating, I washed my hands and sprayed them with hand disinfectant. I didn't need to be bitten because one of the animals smelled food. I walked to Cleo's enclosure as Darren re-opened the shop. From what he told me, these demonstrations were popular with young kids and some teenagers.

Darren was showing people to the demonstration area as I pulled Cleo out of her hide and soon started the demonstration.

Everything had been going well so far, but I kept noticing three teenage boys touching the anaconda enclosure. I was currently letting some of the younger children have a chance with holding one of our smaller snakes, a milk snake by the name of Romeo.

From the direction of the anaconda, I heard, "Oh shit!" I could see the serpent slither near its enclosure while the teens watched, obviously freaking out over the situation.

Eyes wide, I quickly placed Romeo back into his enclosure while instructing everyone to back up. Once I made sure everyone was a good distance away, I began to make my way to the snake, who was ironically called Tiny.

Hearing the commotion, Darren appeared around the corner, afraid to find a customer harmed but instead he found Lilith handling the situation quiet well, keeping everyone away. Tiny apparently has always been a temperamental snake. Some days he would allow you to handle him, some days he wouldn't.

Today was one of those days, I decided. I had seen Darren go and check on Tiny to see if he could be used in the demonstration for this morning, but he had refused to co-operate. As I made my way to the snake, it turned in my direction. The reptile began to raise his head, causing me to become wary, thinking he was preparing to strike out. To my surprise, he lifted his scaly head an inch or two from the ground.

Seeing this as a good sign, I reached down to the snake, my hand lightly brushing against his body. When the reptile didn't respond negatively to my touch, I lifted him from the floor gently. Darren's assistance was necessary to carry out this act, however. He stepped over to the space and helped pick up the snake, making sure to keep his guard up while doing so.

"This is odd," I heard Darren mumble to himself with a light frown. I could clearly see his brows furrow as we carrier the snake back to his enclosure.

Once Tiny was secured, I turned on the idiots who had been messing with enclosure. "You three must be really stupid; you know that snake could have easily bitten you." I told them with a hard glaring. Personally, I wouldn't have cared if they had been bitten, but it would teach them not mess around in a reptile shop.

"It's not as if it's poisonous," A blond haired teen said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"No, but after it bites, it coils around its prey and suffocates it. Can you guess what you would have been?" When they gave me no response, I told them, "The prey," before throwing all three of them out.

After that incident, Darren decided it was time to end the demonstrations and that we should begin to tidy up the shop, including cleaning the enclosures. Cleaning was a breeze and, in no time, I was finished. Barbara began to walk into the shop, a light smile playing on her lips, while I was putting away some of the cleaning supplies.

I said goodbye to Darren once I had finished placing the products into their proper place on the shelf. Barbara waited by the door patiently, her eyes placed onto a small lizard enclosure. Once I stepped up next to her, her attention turned to me and she asked, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I answered with a small sigh.

The walk to Barbara's car was silent but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. As for the ride home, car horns and many other city noises kept the silence away. Traffic was heavy, but that came as no surprise to me. It didn't take too long for us to get back to the Gordon's and, after having a nice hot shower and changing into some comfortable sweatpants and tank top, I turned on the news.

On the news channel, a recent picture of the Joker was up. The quality was blurry, but recognizable. The news, as I had later learned, was still covering his escape from Arkham. The reporter who was explaining the situation would hesitate and stumble over their words, showing just how worried they, and every other citizen in Gotham, were.

I could hear Barbara moving around in the kitchen, preparing to go to the school and pick up James and Babs.

With my attention turning back to the screen, I studied the picture once more. It had been downsized and placed into the corner of the television screen as the reporter continued to talk about the situation. Even with it shrunken down, I was still able to identify him.

It was highly unlikely that we would ever cross paths, but the thought was still interesting none the less. As the reporter continued to list the Joker's recent acts against the city, my eye lids began heavy and my body numbed. I leaned back into the couch and curled up with a pillow, allowing sleep to slowly take over. Before I was completely out, the image of the Joker was burned into my mind, allowing nothing else to be present in my thoughts while I slept.

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><p>AN: As always I hope you enjoyed and that you will review and let me know what you think. And to SecretsAreNoFun, my BETA, another big thank you.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Road To Insanity**

**Summary:** A Batman The Dark Knight Fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City and soon in the leather purple gloves of The Joker. Her journey down the road to insanity will be dark and terrifying as she is led by the owner of a twisted smile.

**Warnings:** This story will contain swearing, some possible graphic killing/murder scenes and maybe a future sex scene. This story is rated M for a reason if you are uncomfortable reading such things you can ether skip through them or not read this, so please do not send me messages if you dislike some thing you have read. It was your choice to read it.

**A/N:** As always, I give thanks to those who have reviewed and I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. To my readers, I wish to inform you that I will be having some of the more unrealistic aspects of the Batman universe in this story. An example of this is that at some point other Batman villains will make an appearance such as Poison Ivy.

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><p><strong>Recap<strong>

With my attention turning back to the screen, I studied the picture once more. It had been downsized and placed into the corner of the television screen as the reporter continued to talk about the situation. Even with it shrunken down, I was still able to identify him.

It was highly unlikely that we would ever cross paths, but the thought was still interesting none the less. As the reporter continued to list the Joker's recent acts against the city, my eye lids began heavy and my body numbed. I leaned back into the couch and curled up with a pillow, allowing sleep to slowly take over. Before I was completely out, the image of the Joker was burned into my mind, allowing nothing else to be present in my thoughts while I slept.

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><p>The lyrics of Emilie Autumn's Shalott played in the background as I made my breakfast, a yolkless egg and toast. It has been about a month since I found myself in Gotham. In that time, I have saved the money I was paid from working at Cold Blooded and bought myself an apartment. The apartment wasn't overly big, but it suited me fine. The living room was a nice size and held a black sofa that could comfortably seat three people. In front of the sofa was an oriental style coffee table and just ahead was a moderately sized T.V that sat up against the wall.<p>

The walls were painted a dark red while the carpet was a raven blue. The living room was connected to the small kitchen and was separated only by a kitchen counter, making the room appear larger. The walls of the kitchen were a typical cream colour, but the floor was black laminate. The kitchen's counters were also black but were lined with silver.

To the left of the kitchen was a door leading to my bedroom. The colour scheme of the living room was also used in the bed room. My wardrobe was black with silver handles, the bed frame was black metal and the sheets were different shades of purple as were the curtains covering the window. On the right wall was a door leading to the bathroom, which had a blue color scheme. The bathroom had a bath/shower with a midnight blue shower curtain. The sink was a typical white with mirror above it just next to it was a just as white toilette.

Apart from buying a place to live, I had also bought myself a phone, IPod and speakers, a purse and a bag. All in all, I feel quite comfortable in my new home.

I took my egg on toast meal into the living room and made my way to the couch. I sat down at the end so I would be able to rest my plate on the sofa's arm. After a few bites, I glanced over to the silver clock, which hanged up on the wall, only to realize that if I didn't hurry it up a bit, I would be late.

I finished up my breakfast before placing the dish into the sink and grabbing everything I would need for the day. Before I rushed towards the front door, I grabbed my purse and made a dash to my IPod and phone. I dropped the electronics into the purse just before I reached up to take hold of my appartment keys, which sat on a dividing counter.

I made my way to the front door and pulled on my trainers before exiting my apartment and locking it up. Leaving the apartment building, I joined the hundred of others that were making their way to work. The area was hidden away by a thick river of people that flowed down the street in a sloppy manner. There were individuals that would snake by, attempting to get ahead or people who would just stop. Those people held up a line and were usually shoved aside. It was most crowded in the mornings, I had noted after living in the area for only a few days.

My apartment wasn't to far from Cold Blooded, one of the reasons as to why I choose the building. The walk to work was the same as any other morning. I tried my best at avoiding the impatient beings, but wasn't always successful. At this point, I was certain the person behind me was purposely stepping on my heals.

Once Cold Blooded came into view, I almost had to fight my way out of the busy crowd just to get to the door. As I entered the reptile shop, I said, "Hello," to Darren, who was behind the counter, and then I began to make my way to the staff room. After put my bag in a safe place, I returned to the shop and started cleaning the reptiles' enclosures.

I began with the ones that were closest to the front of the shop due to the fact that these reptiles were for sale. Not all the reptiles that sat in the shop were for sale, however. The ones that were used in the demonstration area were owned by Darren, which is why they all have names.

After I finished cleaning, I returned to the staff room and scanned the white board, which hanged loosely on the wall. As I was scanning over the notes, all of which were written in Darren's semi sloppy cursive, I realized that there were some snakes that were in need of feeding.

The staffroom door began to open and almost immediately did my head snap back to get a look at who was stepping into the room. It was the teen Sam, the newer employee. We said our good mornings to one another before I informed him which of the non-serpent reptiles needed to be fed.

It had been decided by Darren that, after Sam had been employed, I would be the one to look after the snakes. Every time Sam made an attempt at feeding or handling the snakes they would lash out. So, for safety reasons, I was in charge of the snakes.

Some of the snakes that needed to be fed were several of the poisonous snakes and Tiny. I decided to feed Tiny first as I made my way to the freezer. I opened it up searched through the bagged animals before I grabbed a frozen rabbit. As I defrosted the small creature, I took hold of the largest sized tongs, which were kept in a drawer by the freezer. Rabbit and tongs in hand, I marched over to Tiny's enclosure, fishing through my pockets for the key along the way.

"Good morning Tiny," I said to the anaconda, who was curled up in a corner behind some plants. Unlocking the sliding glass door, I gripped the rabbit with the tongs and pushed opened the door just enough so I could dangle the rabbit inside. Using the tongs, I made the rabbit sway side to side to simulate it being still alive.

I waited quietly and patiently for Tiny to strike at it. After some time, Tiny's head shot out from under his coiled body and latched onto the rabbit, his fangs sinking deeply into the rabbit's flesh. Releasing the rabbit, I retracted the tongs and quickly closed the glass door and locked it. I watch for a couple of seconds as Tiny coiled his large body around the rabbit before I left to go care to the other deadly snakes.

Strangely enough, even the deadly snakes didn't mind my presence and very rarely did they ever try to strike out at me. I had noticed that every time they did it was when someone else was with me, or if either Sam or Darren popped their heads through the black curtain. The curtain was placed there so the snakes didn't feel overly threatened with having people stare down at them. Despite the cobras, rattlers and other dangerous snakes feeling comfortable in my presence, I still wore thick gloves, just in case.

The rest of the morning was relatively normal, which included the few idiots who almost got bitten, but aside from that, nothing of interest happened. After my lunch break with Darren and Sam, I was setting up the demonstration area like normal when I heard Darren speaking to someone whose voice I vaguely recognized.

"Here she is!" Darren stepped over to me, a smile playing on his lips. "This is Miss Lilith Nights, our demonstrator and snake whisperer." he said with a small chuckle when he added the title both he and Sam had given me. Darren walked over into the demonstration area, followed by a person I had never expected to see.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Nights. I'm Bruce Wayne." said the man whom had confirmed he was, in fact, who I thought he was and that my eyes were not playing tricks on me. He held out his hand and I, in return, numbly gave him a handshake. My thought process had stopped almost completely and I didn't know what to do or how to act. _Shit.__What__do__I__do?_I thought, still to shocked to speak. I hadn't even noticed that he let my hand go until I felt it drop to my side.

"Uh…" I hesitated for a moment. "Nice to meet you to Mr. Wayne," I said once I found my voice. For now, I decided to act as professional as I could and try my best not to stare at him. I glanced over to Darren with a questioning look in my mismatched eyes before returning my gaze to Bruce.

"Mr. Wayne would like to hire you for charity fundraiser," Darren said, answering my unasked question before leaving to the front of the store so Bruce could talk to me a bit more privately about the fundraiser.

"You might have already figured this out, but the fundraiser is for endanger species. Hopefully, it will help in preventing more animals from falling onto the endangered list." Bruce said after motioning me to continue with my work.

I knew that this fundraiser could be one of two things. One reason was that he was doing this to up hold his 'Billionaire Playboy' persona, or it was something he was hoping the Joker wouldn't be able to resist crashing. I thought about all the pros and cons of agreeing to being a form of entertainment for the fundraiser as I pulled Allsorts, a rat/corn snake mix, from his tank.

"Alright, Mr. Wayne, I will agree to being apart of this fundraiser." I said, turning to face him. The oddly affectionate snake coiling around my arms and hands, giving me a light squeeze.

"Great! Do you think you could bring some of the more dangerous snakes as well?" he asked with a smile. That soon disappeared when Allsorts moved his head a bit to close to Bruce's face before I could regain control of the little snake. Moving to the centre of the demonstration area, I sat on a stool that had been placed there earlier.

"That depends. Will I be on a stage or will it be like how I do demonstrations here?" I asked. If I was on a stage, then yes I could bring some of the more dangerous snakes. There would be no chance of someone getting bitten that way. It would be me and not some poor fool who got to close. Instead of giving verbal confirmation, he just nodded and in returned I told him I would be able to brig the more dangerous snakes.

After that, I expected him to leave, but instead he stayed and watched my demonstration for himself. He, unfortunately, was a little distracting as I still wasn't to sure on how I should act around him. All my movements were slightly robotic and I began to worry that Bruce would pick up on my behaviour. The fact that he didn't know that I knew he was Batman made it much worse. Thankfully, it seemed the snakes picked up on my inner battle and seemed to just go through the motions of the demonstration with me, making the situation much simpler.

Once the demonstration was over, I was all to pleased to watch Bruce Wayne leave. A smile nearly formed on my lips as I let out a small sigh of relief. I could now put the problem of how-to-act-around-Bruce to the back of my mind and focus on my work. It was still a few hours before I could leave and return home, but I passed the time by re-filling some of the enclosures' water bowls and gave a hand to customers when they needed assistance.

The walk home was defiantly different than the walk to work. The main difference, I noted. was that the streets were practically empty. However, unlike normal women who had just pepper spray, I had convinced Darren to let me milk the spitting cobra he owned. Once I had the poison, I emptied a pepper spray container and replaced it with said poison. I thought it would be more effective and, as long as the poison isn't introduced to the blood stream, no one will die. Getting it into someone's eye will cause high irritation and possible blindness. Rubbing the eyes will only make it worse.

Thankfully, I didn't have to use my poison spray and made it to my apartment without incident. After I finished preparing my dinner, I sat and watched Phantom of the Opera. As the movie progressed, I could feel my lids become heavy. I decided that it was time to head down to my bedroom, once I cleaned up my dinner mess, and change into my pyjamas. Tonight, I slipped into my silky blue pyjama set before settling under my bed sheets.

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><p><strong>AN:** Sorry for the long wait but we had a power surge not to long ago and it turned my computer off before I could save. I hope every one enjoyed this chapter and I can promise that Joker will be in the next chapter. As always I give my thanks to my BETA and as you can see she will be putting her own messages at the bottom as well. I hope you will review.

**E/N:**I will be writing messages here from now on. . . If you ever spot a grammar mistake, please don't hesitate to send me a message or write it in a review (^_^)


	5. Chapter 5

**The Road To Insanity**

**Summary: **A Batman The Dark Knight fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City, and soon in the leather purple gloves of The Joker. Her journey down the road to insanity will be dark and terrifying as she is led by the owner of a twisted smile.

**Warnings: **This story will contain swearing, some possible graphic killing/murder scenes and maybe a future sex scene. This story is rated M for a reason if you are uncomfortable reading such things you can ether skip through them or not read this, so please do not send me messages if you dislike some thing you have read. It was your choice to read it.

A/N: To Secretly Evil, I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and hope you will enjoy this one as well. I am happy to tell my readers that Joker will be in this chapter, he and Lilith will be meeting (in a sense) as well.

**Recap**

After I finished preparing my dinner, I sat and watched Phantom of the Opera. As the movie progressed, I could feel my lids become heavy. I decided that it was time to head down to my bedroom, once I cleaned up my dinner mess, and change into my pyjamas. Tonight, I slipped into my silky blue pyjama set before settling under my bed sheets.

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><p>It was Saturday and also the day of the fundraiser. Normally on the weekend I would work the afternoon, but today I would only be dropping in so Darren could drive both the snakes and I to the function. The fundraiser was being held in a large hall that was normally rented out for these kinds of events; I knew where it was as we had a small meeting there earlier in the week.<p>

During the meeting, I had gotten into an argument with a man that Bruce had hired to play a sound system. He wanted to play animal calls along with the music. I had, at first, tried to calmly tell him that it wasn't a good idea, but he had disregarded me several times. In the end, I got up from where I was sitting and smacked him on the back of the head. Having his full and undivided attention, I told him that the noise would stress out the animals that were going to be there.

He had tried to explain that it wouldn't be at a level that wouldn't bother the animals, but a good majority of the animal calls he had chosen were from predators. After pointing this out, I informed him that the only real predators that would be present at the fundraiser were going to be the snakes. All the others were considered prey and would feel threatened hearing the calls of the predator animals. The argument went back and forth for awhile, but I eventually won. The agreement was that music would be played at a soft level for the animals ' sake.

The majority of my day was relatively boring. After I took my shower, I had decided to let my hair, which needed to be re-dyed, dry naturally. I started the mundane task of picking which colour I should use to cover my natural brunette this time. This of course was just something to take up time and, in the end, I still couldn't make a decision on which colour to choose.

Glancing at the clock, I took note of how late it was. I knew that I should of begin to prepare myself for the fundraiser, but then I realized that I still had no idea what to wear. I recalled that Bruce had told me to wear something that was practical but could also be considered formal. The first time he said that, it made no sense to me and even now, it still doesn't. Looking at the clothes I had bought throughout my stay in Gotham, I drew a blank.

_How can something be practical and formal at the same time?_I thought, almost tossing clothes left and right. I decided right away that a dress was not a good idea, nor were heels; I could not run in either. In the end, I decided on a pair of black dress pants, a long sleeve, but relatively low cut, red top and black leather ankle boots that were heelless. Seeing that the majority of my hair was relatively dry, I pulled it into a tight bun before grabbing my keys and purse and walking out of my apartment.

When I arrived at Cold Blooded, I found out that Darren had already moved all the snakes. I made my way into the van's side while Darren finished closing up. The van itself was a jungle green and had black lettering on both sides that spelled the shop's name. The back of the van was made in such a way that, to the snakes, it was like they had been moved from one vivarium to another. It was also soundproof, something that was to cause less stress when travelling. Another feature the van had to offer was a thick curtain that separated the poisonous snakes from the non-poisonous.  
>Once Darren was finished locking up, he jumped in the drivers' seat while I jumped into the back with the snakes, hoping to make the journey even less stressful for them with my presence.<p>

The drive itself was uneventful, although it was little bumpy along some of the roads. It seemed that my idea of keeping the snakes calm with my presence worked for the most part. The female rattler, Pandora, would shake her rattle every now and then, but apart from that, nothing happened.

There were several attendants standing outside waiting for us when we arrived- they where to help take the snakes inside. Once I had placed a snake into a plastic travel tub, I gently handed them over to an attendant.

I mentally giggled as some of them looked as if they were about to be bitten despite the travel tub housing the snakes. The only snake without a travel tub was Tiny, and that was because we didn't have one big enough. So while the attendants carried the non-poisonous snakes in the travel tubs, Darren and I carried Tiny between us. We moved relatively quickly as we still had the poisonous snakes to take inside.

Once all the snakes had been placed in yet another temporary vivarium back stage, I sat down to relax for a bit. The backstage area wasn't all that impressive, to be honest. The only thing that made it different from the backstage of, say, a play or musical performance, was that there were a number of animals. All of which were being kept separate from each other, of course. The snakes and I were close to the curtain. I could see a few fruit bats (the ones with cute faces, I noticed), some brightly coloured birds, and a number of forest/woodland animals.

_They're all going for the cute plea_, I thought. People use it all the time when it came to endangered animals. I had noticed this tactic years ago. There was a reason why the WWF icon was a panda; people find panda's cute. People are more inclined to save an animal they find cute or majestic, like tigers. I didn't have to wait too much longer before I heard the soft background music begin to play, signalling that the guests had started to arrive. Once the background music had all but been drowned out by the chatting of those from high society, I heard someone walk on stage, which was soon followed by the voice of Bruce Wayne.

I wasn't really listening to what he was saying; just hoping that he wouldn't come backstage. I was still unsure how I should act around him. Thankfully, my prayers were answered as he exited the stage the same way he had entered it by walking down what I assumed were steps at the stage's edge. After a little more mingling with his guests, Bruce's voice could be heard once again introducing animal handlers. This went on for a while. Once one handler was finished, the next was called, and it soon became my turn. Unlike the other handlers who left the animals backstage to begin with, I walked on stage with Allsorts in my arms.

"Good evening. Now, I'm sure by now you know what I am going to do," I said as Allsorts coiled more of his body around my arm. "So, instead of me wasting your time by explaining it to you, I'll jump straight into it."

I hated public speaking; I was okay when doing demonstrations at Cold Blooded, as the audience is normally small. This, however, was nerve wracking, but I got through it by not looking at those I was talking to; I looked just above their heads. After I had put Tiny away - the last of the non-poisonous snakes - I turned to the audience to tell them to back away from the edge of the stage as I was going to be bringing out the venomous snakes. I saw a distinctive head of greenish blonde hair and froze. Not even a second later was there a gunshot and a security guard falling limply to the floor.

Men gasped, women screamed, and everyone backed away from the body and Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime. As the Joker seemed to look over everyone in the room, his men began to spread out, herding everyone into the centre of the room. One jumped onto the stage, pointing his gun at me. The shock of being in a situation that I had thought improbable caused my legs to give out. I stared at the Clown mask - one that looked far too creepy for my liking - in fright and I backed up until I hit the stage curtain. My attention was pulled from the clown and to the Joker.

"As you all know, I haven't long been out of Arkham, but I was very disappointed when I didn't receive an invitation to this, uh, gala event," Joker said, his distinct voice carrying across the silent room, despite the fact he had spoken only a few octaves above a whisper. No one spoke. Hell, it almost looked like no one dared to breathe while in the Joker's presence. He soon started asking for Bruce, saying that he wished to tell him personally how disappointed he was. Again, no one spoke. How could we? We honestly didn't know where he was. Well, I had a vague idea he had obviously gone to switch into his Batman persona.

Becoming impatient, he started pulling people out of the crowd and asking them individually. When they couldn't tell him, they were shot down. Joker himself never shot them. It was always one of his clowns that did. I had never seen so much blood; one poor man got shot point blank in the face with a shot gun.

The mess of what was left of his face caused me to gag, forcing myself to turn away from the gruesome scene. For the first time in my life, I was afraid of the Joker. He wasn't just a character anymore. Here he was a living and breathing person. It wasn't the way he looked. No, that I was almost certain would never scare me; it was the fact that I was almost one hundred percent certain that he was sane. Everyone else here thought him as insane man, but not me. I had watched The Dark Knight so many times that I was convinced that he was indeed sane.

From behind me a soft hiss sounded. Frowning, I glanced back at the clown and saw that while his gun was trained on me, he was looking at Joker. Nudging the curtain to the side a bit, I glanced back and saw the vivarium holding Pharaoh, a male king cobra. My eyes widened. Slowly, I began to reach into my pocket for the key. As I was doing this, I kept my gaze on the clown who was on stage with me. Thankfully, he did not turn towards me once and I was also eternally grateful to the fact I was able to unlock the vivarium without once glancing down. But I had to take my eyes away from the clown long enough to remove the deadly snake. I slowly slide the glass door open, thinking to myself about my lack of gloves.

Unfortunately, just as I had wrapped my hand around the deadly serpent, I heard a rough voice behind me.

"What are you doing?" The voice I assumed belonged to the clown who was on stage.

I froze. I couldn't hear Joker talking anymore; he must have noticed that I was doing something as well. How long had Joker been silent? It didn't matter. The clown was walking closer to me. I could hear his heavy boots on the stage floor.

With a mental apology to Pharaoh, I pulled him from his vivarium, spun around and, still keeping a hold of him, pushed him at the approaching clown. Pharaoh's reaction to the clown was instantaneous. His hood opened, he reared back, and when the clown didn't back up quick enough, he struck out, sinking his needle like fangs into the clown's unprotected arm. Pharaoh held on for about half a minute before pulling back and coiling the length of his body around my arm.

It didn't take to long for the venom to start working. I knew that the clown's nervous system was the first thing to fall to the venom, and soon he was staggering about the stage, clutching his stomach. When he did fall, I knew he wasn't dead, just unconscious and possible slipping into a coma. Up until now, everyone had been silent, but the silence was penetrated by slow and loud clapping.

"Now that is what I call sur-viv-al. Who knew that one of you would have the guts to do something like that." Joker said, still clapping. That was, however, cut short as Bru- Batman soon appeared.

The crunch of someone's nose could be heard as Batman's fist flew into it. The rest of the fight I could only make out guns being fired, bones being broken and his laugh. If I had been watching this as a film, I probably would have started laughing with him. But it wasn't; It was real. I couldn't move. Even my mouth refused to form words.

When he had spoke, he had looked at me right in the eyes. I know for a fact his eyes are brown, but from this distance I could have sworn they were abyss black. I only realized the fighting was over when I felt Pharaoh, who was still coiled around my arm, rear up again. Blinking, I saw Jim walking towards me.

"Wait Jim, this snake is poisonous." I told him, stopping his approach abruptly. Turning, I placed Pharaoh back into his vivarium and locked the sliding glass door. Jim, after asking if I was alright, had begun to ask me for my interpretation of what had happened. Darren had come in when I was almost finished and, once I was, pulled me into a hug. Returning it, I asked whether or not he needed help with taking the snakes back to the shop.

"No, you just go home and rest. I can handle them." He had said with a very fatherly smile. It was not the first time while I had been in Gotham I got a bout of homesickness, but pushed it back. Nodding my consent, I aloud Jim to give me a lift to my apartment building. After promising to come and visit, I walked into the building.

Once I had made it to my apartment door, I unlocked it as quickly as I could, walked inside and to made my way to my bedroom, my pace never faltering. Not even bothering to get changed, I collapsed onto my bed. It was only now that I realized that Pharaoh had done exactly as I had wanted him to. By all rights I should have been the one bitten. This was my lingering thought as I drifted to sleep. However, another thought began to form in the back of my mind. It startled me, causing me to bolt up.

Despite what just happened, the fact that I had seen more blood and gore than I would have watching Saw, and the fact that, yes, I had been, and probably still am, in some ways scared of the Joker. Despite all that, I still also found myself attracted to him and even worse I had been excited when he had shown up at the fundraiser. A small part of me had been cheering him on as he killed. These thoughts stopped me from sleeping the majority of the night, but once they began to fade away, I found that I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

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><p><strong>AN: **First I would like to apologize for the long wait but I had some writers block and didn't know how I was going to word some of this. Also this is something I should have said in the first chapter but updates might few and far between. I can't force myself to write, I don't think a chapter would turn out right if I did so I don't have a writing schedule. I write when I get the urge to, on a brighter note I would like my readers to suggest which batman villains I should also have in this story and whether or not I should add Robin or Batgirl. Please review and I will try and get the next chapter out as soon as I can.

**E/N:** Tis my fault this is late. . . TT_TT Ahaha, I'm sorry.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Road To Insanity**

**Summary:**A Batman The Dark Knight fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City, and soon in the leather purple gloves of The Joker. Her journey down the road to insanity will be dark and terrifying as she is led by the owner of a twisted smile.

**Warnings: **This story will contain swearing, some possible graphic killing/murder scenes and maybe a future sex scene. This story is rated M for a reason if you are uncomfortable reading such things you can ether skip through them or not read this, so please do not send me messages if you dislike something you have read. It was your choice to read it.

**A/N:**To everyone who reviewed, I want to say thanks and again I would like to ask my readers to suggest what Batman villains they would like to see in this story. I also should apologize as this is mainly a filler chapter.

**Recap**

Despite what just happened, the fact that I had seen more blood and gore than I would have watching Saw, and the fact that, yes, I had been, and probably still am, in some ways scared of the Joker. Despite all that, I still also found myself attracted to him and even worse I had been excited when he had shown up at the fundraiser. A small part of me had been cheering him on as he killed. These thoughts stopped me from sleeping the majority of the night, but once they began to fade away, I found that I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

* * *

><p>It has been a few days since I had my first real sighting of the Joker. As I had promised Jim, I went to visit him and Barbara the next day. Barbara had hugged me in relief; apparently what had happened at the fundraiser had been all over the news. I was at work, despite Darren saying I could take more time off if I needed to. I was almost tempted to take his offer. What I had done to defend myself had also been mentioned on the news. People, at the moment, were giving me mixed reactions.<p>

Some people gave me looks of awe and respect; others gave me more wary looks. Personally, I didn't think I deceived either looks. What I had done wasn't brave nor had I been out to kill the clown. I had been panicking. He hadn't died anyway; they got the anti-venom to him in time…Although, he was still unconscious.

Another thing that got me many stares was that Bruce was showing up more lately. The first time had been to apologize for putting me in danger. This had caused my eye to twitch slightly because most people would accept the apology and say he couldn't have known…but he had known that the Joker might show up. It was through almost gritted teeth that I accepted his apology and said it wasn't his fault, despite my urge to hit him and say that it was his fault as he knew Joker could have shown up.

After that, he would show up at the shop at least once a week, sometimes to offer me a ride home. I declined every time and every time I did, I would sometimes notice a bat shaped shadow following me while walking home that night. Shaking those thoughts from my head, I realized that I had, for some odd reason, walked behind the curtain which hid the venomous snakes from public view. Blinking, I knelt in front of Pharaoh and, listening to make sure no one was coming towards the curtain, I unlocked his vivarium. Hesitating a little, I slowly put my hand in the enclosure. I waited a few seconds to see if he would open his hood and rear up. He didn't. Curling my fingers around his slim black scaled body, I lifted him up and out of the vivarium.

I kept still as he coiled around my hand and wrist so I wouldn't give him cause to bite me. He looked at me with his unblinking eyes in an almost a patient expression. _Snakes can't make expressions, _I thought, and I suppose I was kind of right. They can't make facial expressions. But Pharaoh was showing the expression through the way he looked at me. Giving a shuddering sigh, I let the fingers of my other hand gently run across his scales. Again, he stared at me with patient eyes, as if he understood that. Despite my curiosity, I was still wary of him. _Maybe he does understand, _I thought, still stroking his scales.

"Ok, Pharaoh, let's see if you really do understand." I said and felt him squeeze my wrist a little. I released another sigh before speaking again. "C-climb up to me shoulder." To my amazement, he started to do just that. Once he reached my shoulder, half his body was coiled around my bicep. The rest of him was draped on my shoulder.

"Whoa," I said in a breathy tone. Just as I was about to test my theory again, I heard footsteps walking towards the curtain. Detangling Pharaoh as quickly, but gently as I could, I placed him back in the vivarium and locked the glass door. Turning just as the curtain was moved, I found that it was just Darren. He informed me that he was closing early today, as he had a hospital appointment. Nodding, I stood and made my way to the staff room.

Seeing Sam, I said bye and gathered my bag. While I was walking onto the shop floor, I waved to Darren just before exiting the shop. _What to do? _I asked myself. I didn't feel like going back to my apartment. Thinking it over, I decided to go shopping mainly for music and DVD's, but I also had to buy some more food. Walking to the nearest entertainment shop, I noticed that they had a section devoted to Asian films, TV show, anime and music. Giving a mental jump of joy I walked over to the Asian collection. _Yes, Elfen Lied, _I thought picking up the complete collection. I took note of the price and seeing that I could afford it, as well as a few more DVD's, I grinned.

_Wait, do I really want to watch something this bloody after what I witnessed at the fundraiser? _I asked myself, but found that I actually did. Shaking my head slightly, I kept hold of the DVD and continued looking. Glancing at the films I saw, I noted that they had Battle Royal. Unable to resist the urge to buy a copy of what was my first Asian horror film, I picked it up. Deciding that I would choose one more before going to buy food, I scanned the rest of the DVD's. Sighing, I found myself choosing another horror film, this one being the Korean film Hair Extensions.

After leaving the entertainment shop, my DVD's placed in a plastic bag, I did a quick shop for food before returning home. Noting that I had successfully wasted my afternoon, I started on making dinner, keeping with my Asian mood. I made a simple dinner of Ramen noodles. Before starting to eat, I placed Elfen Lied into my DVD player. While I was pushing the play button, I couldn't help but close my eyes as I listened to the Latin lyrics of the opening theme, Lilium.

I managed to watch the first three episodes before I had finished my dinner. Deciding to watch the rest some other time, I switched on the news. Like it had been since his escape, the Jokers image was in the top right hand corner of the screen as the reporter spoke of his latest crime.

"The Joker's latest crime involves that of rare, and one of a kind, jewellery," the reporter said, causing a frown to appear on my face. _Since when has he ever stolen jewellery? He has no use for it, _I thought. Sure he had stolen all that money during the film, but that was to get at the mob and nothing more. Tuning back into the report, they started listing all that had been stolen.

"Among the items stolen is a sapphire bracelet, an emerald bracelet, two pendant necklaces - one of sapphire and the other emerald - and finally, one sapphire earring and one emerald earring." The reporter said, looking at the list in his hand. "The owner of the shop said that the sapphire and emerald earrings partners were left behind in the case."

_Maybe he is trying to distract Batman from what he is really after? _I thought before yawning. Switching off the TV, I went to my room and after changing into my pj's crawled into bed.

* * *

><p>This morning's news was just as weird as the one last night; Joker was stealing things that were coloured blue or green, or sometimes both. What was stranger was that the majority of things stolen would be wornowned by women. He had also stolen a number of vivariums from a small pet shop, not to mention heat lamps and other such things needed to care for a reptile. My only thoughts were that he would not harm whatever reptile he was after. Pulling on my shoes, I grabbed my bag and walked out the door.

After feeding and cleaning the snakes that needed the attention, and making sure I wouldn't be needed anytime soon, I walked behind the curtain and made my way into the venomous snake area. Instead of knelling in front of Pharaoh, I chose to test whether or not it was just Pharaoh who could understand me. So I opened Pandora's enclosure and, like with Pharaoh, I placed my hand within the vivarium, waiting to see if Pandora would shake her Rattle. When she didn't, I gently removed her from said vivarium and told her to climb to my shoulder. Her sand coloured body climbed the length of my arm until she sat mostly on my shoulder.

Smiling, I continued to experiment. I asked her to coil gently around my neck, and she did. I had to stop myself from giggling when her forked tongue had flicked out, tickling the skin of my neck. I could tell that her tickling my neck with her tongue was meant to calm me down. I was still nervous that she would bite me.

This soon became my routine; whenever I could, I would go and spend time with the venomous snakes. And, as unfair as it may sound, I did have favourites, Pharaoh and Pandora being two of them. The others were Damian, the black European asp, Kendra, who was a Fea's viper. Kendra had a tan coloured head, a black body and tanned strips. My last favourite venomous snake was Balthazar, the blue Malaysian coral snake. He was a deep blue with white stripes along each side of his body. His head, vent and tail are a bright red.

I had also started staying late, telling Darren that I would lock up for him. This was the only time I could interact with the snakes on the shop floor. Tiny was one of my favourites of the non-venomous snakes. Because of his large body, I couldn't have him coil around my arm or neck, so I would sit on the floor and have him coil around me. He would normally rest his head in my lap. Cleo, the rat snake, and Allsorts, the rat/corn snake, were two more of my favourites. My last two favourites were Ava, the Boa constrictor, and Evra, the python.

Another thing that was a constant was that the Joker was still stealing things that were a little out of his character. All the news had to report was that he had stolen from more pet shops and more jewellery, although it seems he is only going after earrings now. And he never takes a pair; just one from one set and another from a set that looks the same, but with a different gem. The one thing that was a constant in that respect was that they were always blue and green.

On one of my walks home, after spending time with the snakes and locking up Cold Blooded, I noticed I was being followed. Casually putting my hand into my coat pocket, I grasped my snake venom spray. Just as I was about to turn around, a bat like shadow swooped down. The would be mugger received a beating before he ran off. Once he was gone, Bru - I mean Batman, turned to me.

"Are you alright?" he asked in his gravelly Batman voice. Once again, I was faced with the dilemma of how to act. Whenever I saw him as Bruce, I acted polite. Not in the way you would act with a friend, more the way you would act with a distant acquaintance. So did that mean I should act like a thankful damsel who had just been saved? But that wasn't me.

"Yes, fine," I said in a clipped tone. "I could have handled it myself though."

"Like the way you handle the Joker's thug at the fundraiser?" he asked, sounding as if he was accusing me of carry a deadly snake at this very moment. My eyes narrowed. The two different colours and tones making me look more intimidating.

"That was nothing more than survival instinct and panic," I said, still not releasing my grip on my snake venom spray.

"Maybe so, but you nearly killed a man." He so generously pointed out taking a step closer to me. My first thought was to step back, but instinct told me to stand my ground.

"Technically, it was Pharaoh that nearly killed him. I merely had hoped that he would have backed off seeing a venomous snake," I told him. "Besides, what is wrong with using what you can to survive? That is what animals do, and humans are technically animals." He looked as if I had offended him, but what I said was true. Humans are animals, in a sense. Why was it that humans had decided that they were superior to other animals? This was why I liked animals more than people. Don't get me wrong, there were some people I held in high regard.

Seeing that Batman wasn't going to reply, I turned and walked away. I heard what sounded like the flapping of a cape and guessed he had pulled his disappearing act. When I walked into the apartment building, the land lord waved me over before I could make it to the elevator.

"Some left this for you," he said, handing me a plain white box. Not even my name was on it.

"How do you know it's for me? And why didn't they just leave it in my mail box?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He just signed and said that the guy didn't know my apartment number, nor did he recall my name. The only reason he knew it was mine was because whoever had brought it described me almost perfectly. _Right, he must have mentioned my eyes, _I thought to myself. Without that unique feature, he could have been describing any number of women.

Taking my package, I took the elevator to my floor. Once I was in my apartment, I threw the box through my open bedroom door, aiming for it to land onto my bed. I didn't feel like opening it at the moment, and besides, I was still annoyed at Bruce…Batman…whoever. He had thoroughly pissed me off. Again, having Ramen for dinner, I put on Battle Royal and couldn't help but smirk at some of the deaths. After the film was over, I placed my dish in the sink and walked into my room to see the box sitting almost perfectly in the middle of my bed.

Shrugging, I picked it up and opened it. Inside was a pair of stud earrings. What shocked me was that one had an emerald and the other a sapphire. I dropped the box and the lid. In the lid was a joker card. Seeing something in the corner of my eye, I turned quickly enough only to see my own reflection in my mirror. My eyes widened slightly as I remembered a small detail. When Joker had crashed the fundraiser, and after I had let Pharaoh bite that clown, Joker…had looked me directly in the eye. I now saw the reason for him stealing things in green and blue…Me. Those earrings would match my eyes almost perfectly…Did this mean I was marked? Was he going to stalk me? Kidnap me? Or maybe he intended to kill me, which to me seemed more plausible.

Whatever the reason, I found I couldn't get rid of the earrings, nor could I bring myself to ring the police. Instead, I placed the lid back on the box and pushed it to the back on my bedside table draw. One thing I knew for certain, I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** And Lilith's torment begins. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, even if it was mostly filler. Please leave a review I enjoy reading them and they let me know that I do have readers, of course there are those of you that add the story to your alert lists and I give those people my thanks.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Road To Insanity**

**Summary: **A Batman The Dark Knight fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City, and soon in the leather purple gloves of The Joker. Her journey down the road to insanity will be dark and terrifying as she is led by the owner of a twisted smile.

**Warnings: **This story will contain swearing, some possible graphic killing/murder scenes and maybe a future sex scene. This story is rated M for a reason if you are uncomfortable reading such things you can ether skip through them or not read this, so please do not send me messages if you dislike something you have read. It was your choice to read it.

**A/N: **As always I give my thanks to all who have messaged and also to those add this story to their favourite/alert lists. Again there will be quite a bit of filler in this chapter and I do apologize but it is necessary, hope you all enjoy.

**Recap**

Shrugging, I picked it up and opened it. Inside was a pair of stud earrings. What shocked me was that one had an emerald and the other a sapphire. I dropped the box and the lid. In the lid was a joker card. Seeing something in the corner of my eye, I turned quickly enough only to see my own reflection in my mirror. My eyes widened slightly as I remembered a small detail. When Joker had crashed the fundraiser, and after I had let Pharaoh bite that clown, Joker…had looked me directly in the eye. I now saw the reason for him stealing things in green and blue…Me. Those earrings would match my eyes almost perfectly…Did this mean I was marked? Was he going to stalk me? Kidnap me? Or maybe he intended to kill me, which to me seemed more plausible.

Whatever the reason, I found I couldn't get rid of the earrings, nor could I bring myself to ring the police. Instead, I placed the lid back on the box and pushed it to the back on my bedside table draw. One thing I knew for certain, I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

* * *

><p>I had been right; I hadn't been able to sleep at all. I was debating whether or not to call in sick for work, but after one look around my room I knew I wouldn't be able to stay here alone. Once I changed into clean underwear, threw on a pair of jeans and a silvery blue top, I made my way into the living room, grabbing the television remote off of the sofa's arm along the way. I remained standing as I switched the television on, but after a moment of listening to the channel, I quickly switch it off with a frown. The news was on, and Joker was the main story. I didn't think I could handle looking at a picture of him, let alone hear someone talk about him.<p>

His little 'present' had made me paranoid, and so, not feeling very hungry, I left for work early. My walk to work was less peaceful than normal; I was jumping whenever someone brushed up against my sides. I gave a small sigh of relief once I was inside Cold Blooded. I finished up my work as quickly as I could for all I wanted at the time was the comfort of my snakes. Yes, I did see them as mine. Darren may have bought them, but I could understand them in a way he could never. My time spent with them was short, however.

"Hey, your boyfriend is here," Sam said with a smirk, pushing the curtain aside.

Luckily, I had placed Balthazar back in into his space just before I was notified of my guest. As to the boyfriend reference, I knew very well that he was referring to Bruce. Sam had begun to call him my boyfriend due to his numerous weekly visits.

"I have told you once, and I will probably tell you again, that he _isn't _my boyfriend," I snapped while making my way past Sam.

Once I was on the shop floor I could see Bruce leaned in towards the exhibits, viewing the many reptiles on display. A twinge of annoyance hit me, causing the corner of my lips to curl down. _I know he doesn't know that I know he is Batman, but honestly, he insulted me yesterday and then shows up today acting all innocent, _I thought before going over to greet my unwanted visitor.

"Hello, Bruce." I folded my arms over my chest.

"Hey, Lilith," Bruce said, turning to me with what most girls would call his charming smile. "How are you today?"

_Pissed off, _was my mental answer to his question, but deciding to be as polite as I could possibly be, I replied with a quick, "Fine."

Just as expected, he then asked whether or not I would like a ride home. Due to my growing paranoia, I was tempted to say "Yes". However, my anger and annoyance towards Bruce won out in the end and I politely declined. Knowing very well that he wouldn't be able to change my mind, he drew me into a conversation which I had little interest in.

After he had left, I gave a mental shout of joy before asking Darren if he needed me to do anything. He stated that it was almost time for our lunch break, and that I would, obviously, need to set up for the demonstrations after.

The rest of the day moved at almost a snail's pace, but once it was over I again stayed late to spend some time with the rest of my snakes. As I was about to leave I found myself tempted to sneak out either Damian or Kendra, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep them warm enough on the walk. That and I had nowhere to keep them at my apartment.

My hand was kept securely in my coat pocket, fingers curled around my snake venom spray. I found that I was so jumpy that I nearly ended up using my spray on innocent people walking past me. I was torn between getting home as quickly as possible and prolonging it in case there was another 'present' waiting for my return. When I did reach my apartment building, I allowed my shoulders to sag in relief that nothing was there waiting for my arrival.

This, unfortunately, became my routine for the next couple of weeks - being paranoid throughout the day until I was back at my apartment at night. Some nights I would find that Joker had left another 'present' for me, but I still found myself holding back on calling the police. I disposed of all his 'gifts' except for the mismatched earrings.

I think people were starting to notice my paranoia. Darren would repeatedly ask me if I was alright and Bruce seemed more persistent than ever to offer me rides home. None of this was helping to improve my mood. A couple of girls who live on the same floor as me, however, had just the thing to make me feel better.

They invited me on a girl's night out. I had gotten to know them quite well and, while they may not have been friends per say, I preferred them over Bruce. Knowing that Beth, my across the hall neighbour, would be knocking at my door any moment, I rushed to finished getting ready for the outing. I pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans, a red halter neck top - which had a large dragonfly on the front - and a pair of over the knee dark purple heeled boots. I decided to leave my hair down, but not without taking notice that the dye had almost faded back to my natural brown first.

Hearing a light knock at my door, I quickly placed what I could in my pockets and the rest in my bag before opening the front door. There stood Beth, her dirty blonde hair in a half pony tail. She wore a denim skirt, a blue off-the-shoulder shirt, and a pair of below-the-knee black flat boots.

"Come on! The others are waiting for us downstairs," she giggled, taking hold my wrist with a light squeeze.

I found myself suppressing a laugh as she pulled me towards the lifts. We were spotted by the rest of the group immediately when we stepped out of the lift. All the girls ranged in height and hair colour, but the spectrum of hair colour seemed to go from bright blonde to dark brunette. Talking and laughing with the rest of the girls, we made our way to the only club that would play music everyone of our group would enjoy.

The inside of the club was filled with flickering neon and flashing laser lights. We all ordered drinks once we had discovered an empty table in a far corner. The girls and I drank and talked before, one by one, we headed to the dance floor. The current song was _Tainted Love_, but it was the Marilyn Manson version, which was more than perfect for me.

As I danced, I got a few annoyed, dirty looks. I had kept my bag on my person, lightly tapping those who danced around me with it. Once the song came to an end, I decided I needed another drink, and a moment to catch my breath. I noticed that the others were still dancing and had found themselves partners as well.

Smirking to myself, I danced my way from the dance floor and to the bar. After ordering a Jack Daniels and a coke, I took notice to the bright blur of red appear that sat next to me. Turning my head slightly, I saw a woman with bright, fiery red hair and who bore a striking resemblance to my favourite singer, Emilie Autumn. I knew it wasn't the singer, as Emilie Autumn had light bluish green eyes and this woman had bright forest green eyes.

The red head was hunched over the bar top, her chin cupped in one hand while the other loosely gripped an empty glass. The corners of her rosy lips curled down into a light frown.

"Hey, you okay?" The sudden attention drawn to her caused her eyes - which appeared to be puffy and damp - to flicker over in my direction. The expression in her eyes quickly shifted over to shock for a few moments before going back to their previous dark and dreary mood.

"No, not really. No," was her mumbled reply as she glared over her shoulder. Following her line of sight, I saw some pretty boy flirting with a small group of girls.

"Boyfriend?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a sip from my drink.

She growled and turned back to face me. "Well . . . ex-boyfriend now." The woman paused for a moment before laughing darkly under her breath. "Bastard dumped me almost five seconds after we arrived," she spat out.

I shook my head and ordered her a drink. Again, she looked at me with wide eyes before giving me an appreciated nod.

"My name is Lilith, by the way. Lilith Nights," I told her, throwing back my JD and coke before ordering another.

"I'm Pamela Isley." I found myself nearly chocking upon hearing this bit of information.

Studying the woman that sat next to me, I fought to retain my composure. I must have succeeded, as she merely smiled at me and started a conversation not involving her ex-boyfriend. I nodded and put my own thoughts into our conversation, but my train of thought was stuck on the fact that I was having a drink with Poison Ivy.

_Wait, she isn't Poison Ivy. . . Not yet, at least,_I thought before pushing this and any similar thoughts to the back of my mind and focused completely on our conversation.

After we each had a various number of drinks, I convinced her to come down onto the dance floor with me. The two of us had been enjoying ourselves until her ex decided to upset Pamela by dancing with not one, not two, but three girls. This incident caused my eye to twitch as he even had the nerve to ask me to dance with him, to which my answer was a heel to his foot.

As he cursed me out, I pulled Pamela towards the DJ booth. She, after looking back at her ex and back to me, gave me a puzzled gaze while I questioned the name of her ex. She, with a frown, stated that it was Sean.

Smirking with a brilliant idea in mind, I caught the DJ's attention with a wave and, once at his side, whispered something into his ear. He gave a small nod in reply just before I turned back to face Pamela with a triumphant smile. Once the current song had ended, the DJ pulled a mike up to his mouth.

"Hey, everyone, listen up! This next song is going out to Sean, dancing with the three lovely ladies right over here," the DJ announced, pointing out Sean and his group before playing a very familiar song.

"I know  
>The sickening thoughts that slither around your head<br>I know  
>The gluttonous guilt that buried me in your bed<br>Manipulate me if you can  
>Go on and fool me like your biggest fan<p>

I know  
>The arrogant pride that poisons the truth you hear<br>I know  
>The bigoted tongue that tears away all your fear<br>Pontificate you faded star  
>Go on and show me who you really are<p>

You can lie to the papers  
>You can hide from the press<br>You can fake it on stage  
>You can crawl from your cage<br>You can search and destroy  
>You can kill and depend on it<br>I know your tainted flesh  
>I know your filthy soul<br>I know each trick you played  
>Whore you laid<br>Dream you stole  
>I know the bed in the room in the wall<br>In the house where you got what you wanted and ruined it all  
>I know the secrets that you keep<br>I know where you sleep"

What had started out as a confident smirk on Sean's face slowly faded away into a thin, white line and soon a scowl.

"I know  
>The illness behind the image you create<br>I know  
>The tedious need to turn all you love into hate<br>You poor pathetic paranoid  
>Is it just me or do you secretly enjoy it?<p>

You can lie to the papers  
>(You can lie) You can hide from the press<br>(You can hide) You can fake it on stage  
>You can crawl from your cage<br>You can search and destroy  
>You can kill and depend on it<br>(Fake, crawl, search, kill)  
>I know your tainted flesh<br>(You can't hide)  
>I know your filthy soul<br>(You can't hide)  
>I know each trick you played<br>(You can fake it if you try) Whore you laid  
>Dream you stole<br>I know the bed in the room in the wall  
>In the house where you got what you wanted and ruined it all<br>I know the secrets that you keep  
>I know where you sleep<p>

Sleep  
>Sleep<br>Sleep

You play the victim very well  
>You build yourself indulgent hell<br>You wanted someone to understand you  
>Well be careful what you wish for because I do<br>You've got a fancy turn of phrase  
>You set your trap<br>You made your plays  
>You're so fond of games<br>You must never lose  
>Funny how the only one in your bed is you<p>

You can lie to the papers  
>You can hide from the press<br>You can lie to the papers  
>You can hide from the press<br>(Fake, crawl, search, kill)  
>You can lie to the papers<br>You can hide from the press  
>(Fake, crawl, search, kill)<br>FAKE, CRAWL, SEARCH, KILL

Oh my god  
>Oh my god<br>I touched you  
>I can never live it down<br>I can never live it down  
>God save the queen<br>I love you  
>I can never live it down<br>I can never live it down  
>Oh, oh<br>I fucked you  
>I can never live it down<br>I can never live it down  
>I can never live it down<p>

I know the sickening thoughts that slither around your head  
>I know the gluttonous guilt that buried me in your ...shh!... bed<p>

You can lie to the papers  
>You can hide from the press<br>You can fake it on stage  
>You can run from your cage<br>You can search and destroy  
>You can kill and depend on it<br>I know your tainted flesh  
>I know your filthy soul<br>I know each trick you' played  
>Whore you laid<br>Dream you stole  
>I know the bed in the room in the wall<br>In the house where you got what you wanted and ruined it  
>I know the bed in the room in the wall<br>In the house where you got what you wanted and ruined it  
>I know the bed in the room in the wall<br>In the house where you got what you wanted and ruined it  
>I know the secrets that you keep<br>I know where you sleep

I'm wishing you the best of luck  
>And by the way<br>(Your poetry sucks)  
>I'm wishing you the best of luck<br>And by the way  
>(Your poetry sucks)<br>I'm wishing you the best of luck  
>And by the way (Your poetry sucks)<br>I'm wishing you the best of luck  
>And by the way"<p>

At the end of the song, Sean was sending me what he considered the harshest glare he could muster up. However, it had little effect on me, as I have survived the infamous bat-glare. Pamela turned to me and pulled me into a hug, laughing brightly as she repeatedly thanked me and stated that she owed me one. Hugging her back, I told her it was nothing and that she should never let men, or anyone for that matter, get away with hurting her. Whether they did so physically _or_emotionally.

As the night went on, I realized that I had lost Beth and the rest of the girls. _Oh, well. They probably went home. . . _My eyes flickered over to the redhead. _Speaking of which. . .Pamela said she had been living with her ex._realizing this, I brought it up with said red head and, in reply, I received a frown. Seeing as I didn't really have any reason to worry about being poisoned or eaten by a giant plant at the time, I told her to stay with me. She began to refuse my offer, but I was stubborn and said I would drag her back to my apartment if I had to.

Laughing at my half serious joke, she nodded consent and walked out of the club by my side. We, unfortunately, didn't get far as I was taken by surprise. Some unknown figure had grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me into an ally. Without hesitation, Pamela followed me into the ally where I had been dragged into, her hands up and ready to defend herself if needed.

Standing in the shadows was Sean, who appeared to be much more drunk than the two of us with his unsteady posture. My stare fell upon the small pocket knife that rested in his tight grip while my hands found their way into my coat pockets. His glare wavered from me, to Pamela, and back again.

"'The fuck do you want?" I demanded firmly, glaring and tightening my grip on the spray that rested in my pocket.

He slurred something about my embarrassing him and Pamela being a bitch before he started to raise the knife. Thankfully, Pamela and I had stopped drinking a while ago, meaning I was sober enough to be faster than Sean. Pulling the spray from my pocket, I pressed down on the top of the can and allowed the fine mist to flow out onto Sean's face. Letting go, he stumble back and raised his hands up to shield himself.

I stopped spraying the moment he lowered his hands. Then, the guy did the single most idiotic thing. He licked his lips. Now, I know that he had no idea that what I just sprayed on him was snake venom, but come on. If I had been sprayed in the face with just pepper spray, I sure as hell wouldn't be licking my lips. He started to stagger towards us before clutching at his throat, gasping for air.

"What did you do?" Pamela asked bewildered, coming forward while pulling out her phone.

"I don't use pepper spray. You see, I work with reptiles and venomous snakes. So I switched out the pepper spray for snake venom," I explained.

She, at first, looked at me as if I was mad before nodding with a look of acceptance. When Pamela got through to the hospital, all she said was that they needed an ambulance at our current location before hanging up. Smiling a little, she grabbed my arm and started pulling me out of the ally.

"Aren't you going to tell me I'm stupid for using venom instead of normal pepper spray?" I asked her, but she just shook her head and told me that dangerous venom is a better idea than pepper spray.

Grinning, we chatted all the way back to my apartment. Once inside, I made her up a bed on the sofa and allowed her to borrow a pair of my PJ's. After saying good night to one another, I shut my bedroom door, and flopped down onto my bed with a sigh. My attention shifted over to the clock, which said it was two in the morning. Thank God that I didn't have work later.

Closing my eyes, I drifted to sleep, not realizing that I had been watched from when I had first entered the club to when I had returned home with Pamela.

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><p><strong>AN: **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, no Joker but he will be in the next one. Please tell what you think of her meeting Pamela Isley before she became Poison Ivy I thought it was an interesting idea. Also I am very sorry for the long wait but writers block struck me as I was two pages into this chapter. I look forward to reviews.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Road To Insanity**

**Summary: **A Batman The Dark Knight fanatic seems to find herself in the dark and dangerous world of Gotham City, and soon in the leather purple gloves of The Joker. Her journey down the road to insanity will be dark and terrifying as she is led by the owner of a twisted smile.

**Warnings: **This story will contain swearing, some possible graphic killing/murder scenes and maybe a future sex scene. This story is rated M for a reason if you are uncomfortable reading such things you can ether skip through them or not read this, so please do not send me messages if you dislike something you have read. It was your choice to read it.

**A/N: **The usual thanks goes out to all those who reviewed and added this story to their fav/alert lists. I am happy you all liked the introduction of Pamela Isley and as promised Joker will be in this chapter.

Grinning, we chatted all the way back to my apartment. Once inside, I made her up a bed on the sofa and allowed her to borrow a pair of my PJ's. After saying good night to one another, I shut my bedroom door, and flopped down onto my bed with a sigh. My attention shifted over to the clock, which said it was two in the morning. Thank God that I didn't have work later.

Closing my eyes, I drifted to sleep, not realizing that I had been watched from when I had first entered the club to when I had returned home with Pamela.

It has nearly been two months since I came here to Gotham City, Pamela and I became great friends after we met that night. It became routine for us to meet on the weekends to go shopping or back to the same club we met at. Joker Still had yet to be seen again let alone caught but his 'gifts' have been less and less lately, not sure if I should see this as a good or bad thing.

Pamela was currently in the Amazon rain forest with an environmentalist group called Nature First. Apparently a chemical plant had been built on the edge of the forest and they were protesting that it be shut down. I had a funny feeling that she wouldn't be Pamela Isley when she came back but rather one Poison Ivy. Bruce was still as annoying as ever not to mention that shortly after Pamela's ex had been admitted to the hospital I got a visitor of the nocturnal kind.

Today was a Saturday and seeing as Pamela was away, I decided to watch some T.V. as usual the news was on. Not so usual was who the main story was about, Harvey Dent AKA Harvey Two-Face. I had always thought he would have survived the fall at the end of The Dark Knight and apparently he had. The story mostly consisted of interviews with the public, some saying how it was a shame that such a promising DA could become what he has. Others were less than tactful when they gave their opinion of Harvey, saying how they had always thought he had been too good to be true.

Shaking my head I switched the T.V. off deciding to go out than watch mind numbing news. I caught a taxi to the mall and spent half the day just window shopping, today was turning out to be a day where nothing interesting happened. Instead of wasting more money on a taxi I decided to waste time by walking home, it would take most of the rest of the day but it was better than sitting at home bored. It would also give me time to think about other well known batman villains; Harvey hasn't been the only new story on the news. Joker still dominated when it came to being on the news, he was mention almost every night, but others had also been mentioned.

The police were currently investigating the owner of a string of night clubs and bars; he was only ever mentioned as Mr. Cobblepot but I knew that his first name was Oswald and I am sure that in the underground he was known as the Penguin. No photos were shown so I wasn't to sure on what he looked like but I was sure that considering the big bad bat was also on the case it wouldn't take to long.

The Riddler had also been in the news…sort of, the police were also investigating a robbery that took place at one of Gotham's bigger banks. The only clue they had was a riddle left in the volt, the riddle read 'When one does not know what it is, then it is something; but when one knows what it is, then it is nothing.' No offence to Jim but it seemed that GPD were having trouble solving it.

A scientific researcher has also been featured in the news, it was said he was coming close to finding the cures to a number of diseases. His name was Dr. Victor Fries, another person who has yet to become one of Gotham cities rogues. Scarecrow has also recently been in the news escaping not to long ago, he to is evading capture and it would seem has adapted his fear gas into a fear serum. Some of his victims didn't show, after a medical exam, that they had inhaled any form of gas but small puncture wounds had been found.

I was fully expecting to hear about more villains as I live here, I had yet to hear about a Selina Kyle or her alter ego Catwoman. Bane had also yet to make an appearance but I was sure it wouldn't take long. Coming out of my thoughts I found that I had managed to walk somewhere that was nowhere near my apartment building.

"Great, just great." I mumble to myself while rolling my eyes. Looking around I find that it is an area of Gotham that I had never been before and given the choice would never return to. My surrounding area almost made me think I was in the Narrows but knew I couldn't be, where ever I was wasn't nearly as bad as there. Turning on the spot I planned to retrace my steps until I was in familiar surroundings, unfortunately I saw that while I had been distracted again – this time by my less than pleasing surroundings – a group of men were walking towards me.

I could see their motives written clearly on their faces and had no choice but to run further into this unappealing part of Gotham. I of course had my venom spray but considering there were about five of them I didn't like what my chances were if I decide to stand my ground, so as much as I loathed to I ran. Glad that I had thrown on my trainers this morning I was able to out run the men….for a time, unfortunately they had more endurance than me. As I began to slow down and they speed up I made a quick, but stupid, decision to turn a corner…right into an ally with a dead end.

The cynical and sarcastic part of my brain noted how cliché this situation was. _Yep any minute now I'll be saved by my knight in shining armour_ this thought would have been funny any other time but not know _and I wish he would hurry the fuck up_. Turning towards the men I pulled my venom spray from my pocket and pointed it at the closest guy, he unfortunately was smart enough to cover his face. As I began to point the spray at one of the other guys, one of them rushed forward and grabbed my wrist in a bruising grip. Forced to release the small canister of venom I truly began to panic. _Oh god I'm going to be raped _my thoughts continued to turn dark and panicked as the man holding my wrist tried to rip my shirt off.

Just as my shirt was torn from my body the men stopped, what made them stop was a very distinct sound. Not a gun shot but the crack of a whip. The men turned and through the gaps in their bodies I saw a woman in black leather, high heels, wielding a whip and wearing a cat mask.

"You boys think that you can just do whatever you want to women," Catwoman – for it could be no one else – said stalking forward. The men oblivious to the danger they were actually in leered at her. One was bold enough to go towards her.

"Don't worry pretty kitty, you'll get your turn soon." The voice of this man was so full of arrogance that I could practically see when the auras of danger around Catwoman grew. The next thing the men knew was that there friend was on the floor clutching at his throat and trying to stop anymore of his life giving blood from spill. I was then thrown into a wall as the rest of them surged towards Catwoman, some pulled knives and when got close enough attempted to slice any available skin. In response Catwoman merely used her greater flexibility to duck and weave out of the way, her claws becoming stained in more blood.

Throats were slashed, eyes were gouged from sockets and the last man standing ended up with her whip wrapped tight around his neck and her heeled foot on his back. Once his windpipe was crushed and he breathed no more, she turned to me.

"You alright?" she asked blood dripping from her claws, now that I could fully see her and could focus on her I realised that her outfit was the same one as from the Catwoman film but that she sounded like Michelle Pfeiffer when she had played Catwoman in Batman returns.

"Yes, yes I'm fine." I answered after a few minutes, stooping down a grabbed what was left of my shirt off the ally floor. Catwoman smirked as she picked up my venom spray.

"I admire your bravery, but pepper spray only slows them down." She commented as she handed it to me.

"True, but this isn't pepper spray," I say taking it from her out stretched hand. "It's snake venom." Her smirk widened and a look of approval shone in her eyes.

"Here wear this on your way home," she said pulling a black jacket off one of the bodies holding it out to me. Despite its dark colouring I could still see a slight discolouration from the blood on the collar but without hesitation I took the jacket and put it on. With a nod of thanks I walked from the ally way calling a cab when I felt I was far enough away. I got a few strange looks from the cab driver but ignored him even when I paid him his fare I simple dropped the money into his hand and walked into my building.

Once I was in my apartment I removed the way to big jacket and my trainers, then I practically ran to my room and through to my bathroom. Turning the shower to as hot as it could go I stripped the rest of my clothing off and stepped into the scalding spray. The situation of what could have happened hitting me but more than that, that Batman…Bruce Wayne…whatever he wanted to go by hadn't been the hero. If Selina hadn't of shown up I would probably still be in that ally way. And that is the flaw of being a hero, you can't be everywhere. It doesn't matter how many times Bruce stops Joker or Scarecrow because while he is busy dealing with them small time criminals can have a Bat free time.

I'm not sure how long I was in the shower drowning in my thoughts but when I stepped out my skin was red and I was shocked it hadn't blistered from the heat. Wrapping myself in a towel I wiped the steam from my mirror and stared into my mismatched eyes and resolved to make more venom sprays and maybe fill a few needles as well. As I turned to leave the bathroom my foot caught on my jeans and I heard the sound of my keys in the pocket. I froze. I had been in such a daze that I hadn't realised that I had opened my door without using the key. I know I locked it when I had left, now that I think about I could hear my TV from the front room…I had turned it off before I left. Slowly creeping from my bathroom through my bedroom I stopped at the threshold that connects my room to the front room. There sitting and watching the news was a man with faded green dyed hair, wearing a heavy looking purple over coat. My eyes widened and my breathing hitched as he turned his head to look at me.

"Finally you're ah home, I've been wai-ting almost four uh hours." Joker spoke in his very distinct manner and tone, extending the ai in waiting. As he stood from my settee I did what any sane woman would, I quickly backed into my room slammed the door and forced the heaviest piece of furniture I could move in front of it so it was blocked.

**A/N: **I am so so so so sorry for the long wait, I know I said updates would be few and far between but I didn't imagine it would take me this long. I really have no excuse another than sometimes when I get hit with writers block it hits me hard and refuses to leave. But onto better news thanks to a friend who wants me to join NaNoWriMo ( National Noval Writing Month) this November I got inspired to write again. Now to clear up something's this story is now officially AU due to the canon that is Dark Knight Rises, I had always planned to have Harvey Dent show up so in this universe he did survive his fall. Also concerning Catwoman/Selina I did not like the Anne Hathaway version in Dark Knight Rises. Obviously some people may have liked her portrayal but I wasn't one of them, so I went with a mix of my favourite Catwoman costume (Halle Berry Catwoman) and my favourite portrayal (Michelle Pfeiffer). If you have any suggestions for this story please tell me in reviews, I have not yet decided on the physical appearances of the other Villains yet so suggestions for that would be most helpful. Before I forget the first three people to correctly answer the riddle in this chapter will be rewarded with having either there own oc appear in a chapter or a scene they would like to see happen. Again sorry about the late update and I look forward to reviews.


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